THE CORRESPONDENCE.
To have a correct notion of the manner in which the hand operates on the horse’s mouth, it must be understood that the reins, being held as described, are collected to such definite length, that bracing the muscles of the hand would rein the horse back, and easing them permit him freely to advance; the hand, for preserving a medium effect on the mouth, being only half shut, and the knuckles near the wrist nearly open. The hand, then, being connected to the reins, the reins to the bit, the bit operating in the curb on the bars, and in the snaffle on the lips, the rider cannot move the hand, and scarcely even a finger, without the horse’s mouth being more or less affected. This is called the CORRESPONDENCE.
If, moreover, the hand be held steady, as the horse advances in the trot, the fingers will feel, by the contraction of the reins, a slight tug, occasioned by the cadence of every step; and this tug, by means of the correspondence, is reciprocally felt in the horse’s mouth. This is called the APPUY.
While this relation is preserved between the hand and mouth, the horse is in perfect obedience to the rider, and the hand directs him, in any position or action, with such ease, that the horse seems to work by the will of the rider rather than by the power of his hand. This is called the SUPPORT.
Now, the correspondence or effective communication between the hand and mouth,—the appuy, or strength of the operation in the mouth,—the support, or aid, the hand gives in the position or action,—are always maintained in the manège and all united paces. Without these, a horse is under no immediate control, as in the extended gallop, or at full speed, where it may require a hundred yards to pull before we can stop him.